| Alice in Chains – God Smack Lyrics | 19 years ago |
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"Would?" is written for Andrew Wood; I don't think "God Smack" was. Layne has said that this is about watching someone you love descend into heroin addiction. I'd guess that it was written about his fiancee, who eventually passed away from heroin-related causes. Regardless, it sounds like he's trying to wake the person up to what is happening to them, and to the fact that he knows it, and that it's awful. He's sort of begging [her?] to realize what she's done (he sings "What in God's name have you done?" with such horror) and to stop ("Can't get high, or you will die"). The line "And God's name is smack for some" is a criticism; he's complaining that heroin has become more important to [her?] than anything else in the world, even god (as he complains earlier the person has "cast aside" everyone that cares, and has grown more fond of "that horse" than of him). One of the most touching lines is "And I think that you're not blind / To the ones you left behind / I'll be here." He's telling this person that he knows that she knows she's leaving the people she loves behind, but that he'll be still be there for [her?]. It's so sad that he watched someone he loved going through this, and then ended up doing the same thing himself. Poor Layne. |
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| Alice in Chains – Whale & Wasp Lyrics | 19 years ago |
| This song is so beautiful. I never thought an instrumental could make me cry. | |
| Alice in Chains – Rotten Apple Lyrics | 19 years ago |
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Hmmm.... I think this song is about innocence lost. (Which tends to be a recurring theme in Layne Staley's lyrics.) The apple is a biblical metaphor--when Adam & Eve bit into it they had to leave the Garden of Eden, thus losing their innocence. It could also be the "poison" apple of the Snow White fairy tale. Once the innocence is lost, bad things happen (Innocence is over/Ignorance is spoken/Confidence is broken/Sustenance is stolen/Arrogance is potent). The narrator is upset because he feels that he has lost his innocence "too young," that he has chosen a fate that he didn't want ("I've written my own part"). Resignation to fate is also a common Staley theme. He bit the rotten apple, thus losing his innocence and dooming himself. Metaphorically it's something that most people can relate to on some level, I think ... we all lose our innocence as we grow up. More literally, it's also a warning against heroin use--most listeners know that for Staley, the loss of innocence that doomed him was caused by that drug. On one level it's very personal and specific, on another it's a universal theme that many people in other circumstances can also relate to. |
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| Alice in Chains – Real Thing Lyrics | 19 years ago |
| Layne claimed that this was about a friend who was in and out of rehab for cocaine use. | |
| Alice in Chains – Rain When I Die Lyrics | 19 years ago |
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1. This song was written long before Demri died (it came out in 92, she died in 96). 2. It's almost certain that Jerry wrote the lyrics, not Layne. Lots of AIC songs are songs that Jerry wrote about girls, but people misinterpret them and think Layne wrote them about heroin. |
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| Alice in Chains – No Excuses Lyrics | 19 years ago |
| Jerry wrote these lyrics, not Layne. Though I sort of wonder if it's about Jerry's friendship with Layne. The friendship line is so beautiful and memorable. | |
| Alice in Chains – Love, Hate, Love Lyrics | 19 years ago |
| I read an interview where Layne said that this song was written when he was treating his girlfriend poorly. He didn't like the way he was behaving, so he wrote his darkest feelings into the song and got them out that way. | |
| Alice in Chains – Junkhead Lyrics | 19 years ago |
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"reverand_chris" pretty much has it. This is the start of the cycle of songs on "Dirt" that chronicle heroin addiction. Some people take the song out of context and misinterpret it, but if you listen to it closely or listen within its context on the album, it's blatantly against drug use. "Junkhead" is sarcastic ... very, very, VERY dark humor. He is simultaneouly explaining and mocking a drug addict's justification for using the drug. The narrator has convinced himself that drugs aren't so bad, that they make him better than others, etc. But LISTEN to the way he sings it--it's pretty damn obvious that he's fucked up and miserable and lying to himself/trying way too hard to convince himself. And, y'know, in case you missed the message, Junkhead is followed by "Dirt" ("One who doesn't care is one who shouldn't be/I've tried to hide myself from what is wrong with me"), "Godsmack" ("Can't get high, or you will die" "What in God's name have you done?" "So your sickness weighs a ton"), "Hate to Feel" ("What's gone wrong, I can't see straight" "Mirror on the wall will show you/What you're scared to see" "Used to be curious/Now the shit's sustenance"), "Angry Chair" ("Saw my reflection and cried/So little hope that I died" "Little boy made a mistake/Pink cloud has now turned to gray/All that I want is to play/Get on your knees, time to pray, boy") and so on. I mean, how obvious is it from those songs that heroin is DESTROYING him, it's killing him, making him insane, ruining his innocence and his life? So no, Junkhead is not a pro-heroin song. It's an explanation/very dark MOCK of how a junkie justifies drug use to himself. It's followed by a depiction of heroin DESTROYING said junkie. You'd have to be an utter idiot to think that amounts to an endorsement. |
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| Alice in Chains – Angry Chair Lyrics | 19 years ago |
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Angry Chair is part of a cycle of songs on the album "Dirt" that tell a story. You really can't get its meaning completely unless you listen to it within context. (One of the great things about listening to a full album in order instead of just downloading individual songs--albums can tell a story and great ones are more than the sum of their parts. "Dirt" is certainly such a record, you must listen to the whole thing as one entity to "get" most of the songs fully.) Anyway, "Angry Chair" is part of the cycle on "Dirt" that deals with heroin addiction. It starts with "Junkhead" (which very sarcastically and darkly presents the mindset of someone first getting into heroin use and thinking it's wonderful), then goes through Dirt -> Godsmack -> Hate to Feel which chronicle the user's realization that he's hooked and that heroin is destroying him horribly. Layne said in interviews that one of the reasons he wrote so personally about his experiences with heroin was to warn other people off, prevent them from making the same mistake he made. (I'm sure that is the "little boy made a mistake" in this song. He messed up, and now he's realizing that his mistake is costing him his health, sanity, and life.) I think this cycle of songs works as the best warning against drug use I've ever heard (and is the reason I will *never* touch the stuff). But you can also relate to it and find meaning even if you are not into drugs. Just in a more general sense, the idea that you've lost your innocence, that you've made mistakes that are destroying your life, that you look in the mirror and can't stand what you've become, the horror and desperation, why is your life turning out like this, how did this happen ....? Innocence lost, basically. Probably my favorite song ever. |
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